Nico Rosberg felt his pole position lap around the Marina Bay Street Circuit on Saturday was amongst the best of his career as he beat Daniel Ricciardo by more than half a second.
The Mercedes AMG PETRONAS driver felt he was able to push throughout his lap in Singapore, and feels the team have put their nightmarish weekend from 2015 behind them in the best possible fashion.
“That was a fantastic Qualifying for me – especially on my 200th GP weekend,” said Rosberg. “I think this lap is in my top three of all time. I felt totally at one with the car, which is really rare. I was able to push a lot and couldn’t even top that first lap time on my second run.
“We can be really proud of how much quality we have in the team. We learned a lot from last year when we were nowhere in qualifying. We’ve closed that gap and that is very satisfying.”
Rosberg knows that strategy will be key on Sunday, and with Red Bull Racing putting both Ricciardo and Max Verstappen onto the Supersoft at the start of the race, the German knows he will have a battle on his hands to stay in front.
“In the past we’ve seen that in Singapore pole is important, so I’m in the best possible position for tomorrow,” said Rosberg. “We know that there a lot of pressure will come from Daniel in the Red Bull, as he will start on the SuperSoft tyres.
“This will be a tough battle but I’m quite confident that we chose the right strategy.”
